Russia lags behind in renewable energy 'game'

A general view of the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station on the Yenisei River. Source: Reuters / Vostock Photo

Why is Russia lagging behind in renewable energy and why are Russian scientists failing to come up with relevant innovations?

Analysts agree the time is not that
far off when we will finally run out of oil and gas reserves. It is therefore
imperative for scientists to seek and develop new sources of energy that are
capable of making up for this inevitable deficit. The race for renewable energy
that is currently in full swing may, at any moment, become the turning point in
the energy shortage issue.

Nevertheless, Russian scientists
have provided no input into any of the recent green energy achievements, except
for the ITER international nuclear fusion project that is being carried out in
association with Russian researchers.

In 2009, the Russian government approved
a plan to increase the share of renewable energy in overall energy consumption up
from its current 0.8 percent to 4.5 percent by 2020.

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By comparison, European energy
strategies envision an increase in the share of “green” energy up to at least
20 percent; some European nations will pursue plans to attain a 50-60 percent
share. However, Russia is unlikely to be able to meet even this modest
renewable energy target.

In early December, the RusHydro
hydroelectricity company reported that the share of renewable energy sources in
the country’s energy balance would not exceed 4 percent by 2020.

“The installed
capacity of wind power plants may increase from 50 megawatts to 300 megawatts;
the capacity of geothermal power plants from 70 megawatts to 200 megawatts; the
capacity of mini-hydro power plants from 10 megawatts to 200 megawatts; and the
capacity of solar plants from 1 megawatt to 300 megawatts,” said Mikhail Kozlov,
director for innovation and renewable energy at RusHydro.

Other Russian renewable energy
projects were discussed in mid-November, at a special roundtable session in
Moscow. Fortum presented some of its large-scale projects, including the
project to create power plants that run on household waste (although,
technically, they cannot be considered renewable energy sources), as well as
woodchips and olive pits.

Fortum representatives insist that Russia has
enormous potential for developing these solutions; the country accumulates some
40 million tons of household waste annually, of which 90 percent is taken to
dumps, 3 percent is burned and only 7 percent is processed.

According to Fortum
spokesman Sergei Chizhov, one of the obstacles to the advancement of such
technologies is the underdeveloped regulatory framework in this sector –
especially the lack of a “green tariff.” Such tariffs would involve special
waste treatment subsidies that would form an economic mechanism and make the
renewable energy sector more appealing to investors.

Overall, Russia is catastrophically
short of its own innovation in renewable energy.

“This is the result of the country
not having a renewable energy market,” says Georgy Gogolev, head of the Russian
Venture Company program for attracting demand for innovative solutions.

“Innovation emerges as long as
there is a market, as long as new solutions can be marketed," Gogolev said. "There is no market
in Russia because there is no law on renewable energy; and we have no
subsidies, unlike other countries. There is no unsubsidized energy industry."

We
regulate rates and subsidize (in one form or another) oil, coal, natural gas, nuclear
power and transportation; and we have cross-subsidies for the utility sector.
That’s what Russia has," he said.

"However, it is rare even for developed nations to not subsidize
the energy industry, because energy is an essential part of the
infrastructure,” Gogolev added. “Another problem is that we can’t offer smaller
producers access to the power grid. Germany has passed a law that forces
distributing networks to provide access even to offshore wind plants; but in
Russia, even if you build a wind or solar power plant next to a distribution
station, you will never be able to get connected.”

Gogolev believes that a political
decision must be made to change the situation.

“If the politicians want to make
it happen, then changes will be introduced within the next few years.” The U.S.,
China, Germany and India – the world’s leading consumers of renewable energy –
are superb examples of states that have mustered political will in this area."

“But Russia doesn’t play these ‘games,’” says
Gogolev. “We have no competencies, no solutions and no one is really
interested. There were two attempts to make laws on renewable energy, but both failed.
After the latest bill was rejected, some of its provisions were introduced as
amendments to the Law on Electricity in November 2008."

"Although there is no
separate law on renewable energy, the Russian government is now entitled to
introduce a scheme to subsidize renewable energy projects," he said. "The government is
working on such a scheme now, but the question is whether it will be
operational, how it will work and whether generating companies will have access
to distribution networks … This would call for serious changes in the energy
market as a whole.”